Chapter 251: Madoka’s Choice

"Meteora, I'm in. Altair's in my sights."

"Understood."

With that affirmation, Meteora used the audience's acceptance to "boost" Selesia's latent ability. The audience knew and heard of their conversation—increasing their immersion—but they did not know of any backstage plans. This was part of their plan to conform to the plot weaved by the creators.

"Oh. You have finally arrived."

Selesia saw Altair floating above the ground. Though, they also saw Madoka buried in the rubbles. A few blades are stuck in her arm. Below her was Mamika. Visible blade marks are present all over her body, showing that she barely avoided Altair's sharp blades.

"You..!" Selesia became angry the moment she saw it. "You are far worse than I thought!"

"Tsk. There are people far worse than me. And, good people aren't necessarily good. Not all choose to help a misfortunate person."

"...You're wrong." Selesia replied with a hint of solemnity. "Madoka-san would do so."

"..."

Perhaps knowing that she lost this argument, she wordlessly sent out dozens of blades while waving a blade on her PP-Sh41 using a blade. Her condescending look met Selesia's gaze inside her Vogelchevalier.

"Valiant Chant of Honorius."

"You shall warp three thousand worlds."

"Agoa, Amile, show us where wisdom is—"

In case of any incoming attacks, Selesia readied herself. She thought of Kanoya and Alicetaria who would act whenever this spell of hers fails. Stealthily, she reached out to a magic circle hidden beneath her controls.

"—and Ars Notoria will shine its power in seven directions."

Golden square gates appeared around Altair. From all of her directions, a gate was present. They, who are hellbent on locking her inside for eternity, shall swallow her whole.

"Swallow, Ionion Aphoria!"

The gates converged exactly at Altair's position. A second later, there was nothing left of her. Now, she is trapped inside an infinite space akin to the Hachimon Tonkou of the Three Kingdoms... or so everyone thought so.

(A/N: Hachimon Tonkou is an "infinite maze" with hundreds of mutations, making it impossible to escape. More info is present in the author's note at the end.)

Even with the acceptance against her odds, Altair, unsurprisingly, escapes.

"You don't seem that surprised."

Altair hugged Selesia from behind. The former's scarlet-red eyes that hold nothing but contempt for humans met the latter's determined gaze.

"You... escaped."

"Every room with an entrance has an exit. Even ones with infinite space. It wasn't hard to find it despite your tremendous efforts in your attempt to cage me. A cage inside a birdcage? Truly, it is laughable... and ironic."

Hearing this, Selesia could not keep her calm demeanor. Her eyes widened as she knew the implication behind her words.

"You... You know about this..! If you want to, you can break this birdcage from the beginning!"

"It is pleasant hearing my opponents think worthy of me. Unfortunately, you were only half-correct. As I am now, I do not have enough power to do so."

From the console, Meteora listened intently. She viewed the acceptance rate panel and saw that Altair's was still 0. This meant that the acceptance of the audience cannot affect Altair, simply because she is currently viewed as a "villain". In fact, it should be working against her, for villains are meant to suffer from "defeat". It complies with her situation to head toward her failure.

"She understands everything."

While she felt unease, the conversation between Selesia and Altair continued.

"I could end everything now, but I am fairly sure that the audience would not like it. They would think that this story is... boring."

"[Kick Out]!"

A small magic circle lit up beneath her compartment. It sent Selesia away from her Vogelchevalier.

"Self-destruct!"

Boom-!

A bright explosion greeted everyone else's sights as they watched Vogelchevalier's self-destruction. She thought that she would use it in a sticky situation but never had she expected to use it directly against Altair. Nobody expected her to go inside the cockpit. Though, this brief moment allowed Selesia to embed something as she opened the self-destruction protocol.

[Anti-fantasy]-!

The final power that Selesia possessed through her revisions. What it did is simple: Nullifying Altair's powers.

"Kanoya-kun, it's time!"

Knowing that Altair could survive that one, she sent a message to Kanoya.

"GOT IT!"

[Concept Cohesion Boost]-!

Kanoya's revised power allowed him to do a single thing: boosting every concept to its utmost limit. In his case, it is used as support.

Bzzt-!

A flash of lightning bolted straight to where Altair is. Soon, the silhouette behind it was revealed. It was none other than Alicetaria. She is using her Gotz Von Berlichingen. Purple lightning emerged from her surroundings, making her the incarnation of lightning itself.

"Huh."

Sporting an entertained look, Altair drew a smirk on her face. Even with her conceptual powers restricted and an incoming attack, she did not take them the least bit seriously.

"For our worlds!"

Psshk-!

Her lance pierced through Altair. It made a gaping hole between her stomach. Strangely enough, there was no blood, only noise blocks born out of an anomaly like her. Altair's eyes became hidden by her bangs as her head tilted slightly downwards.

"Hah."

Suddenly, she let out a chuckle.

"This is it?" She mockingly asked. "Try to taste the power of your own attack."

Upon letting out a sarcastic smile, the restraints to her power broke instantly. Her powers worked at the same time, reversing karma between the cause and effect.

"No!"

Pink light covered Alicetaria in an instant. Then, under her shocked gaze, she saw her lance pierce through her body.

Pssshk-!

She was holding it moments ago. She was sure that it did not leave her grasp. So how?

"...No?"

After a few moments passed, she discovered that it did not hurt her. Her lance did not inflict any damage on her whatsoever. Albeit, she has a bad foreboding feeling about it.

Psst-!

Thud.

A little girl fell into a newcomer's hands. He looked at the pale-faced Madoka in his arms before letting out a sigh.

"Altair."

It is none other than Blitz Talker, the middle-aged man who settled everything with his creator. After seeing his daughter back to life, he was forced to join Meteora's side. No one coerced him into doing so. Only, the revival of his one and only daughter meant that she would be gone if the worlds are destroyed—Altair's main goal.

Hence, he has to fight for the world to protect what is precious to him.

Looking at this young girl reminiscent of his daughter, he felt compelled to help her. She has a gaping hole in her chest. Blood dripped down Blitz's arms. Yet, he "understood" that she can still last for a while.

"Jou-san." He called out to Meteora. "Can you?"

"...I will."

For a moment, Meteora lost her concentration because of someone. It is their first time seeing him this pissed. His fingers dug deep into his skin, causing him to bleed.

'That woman...' The man, Shiro, thought. 'I will deal with her myself.'

For some reason, he could not bring himself to think about killing her. If he is the usual him at this moment, he would kill the perpetrator behind his students' suffering. Still, he held himself back. Moreover, Madoka herself made her decision and informed them through the chat group. If she could gain more "acceptance" and bring them to advantage this way, she is determined to do so.

"Meteora-san. Please."

A concern could be felt from Shiro's request. This prompted Meteora to use a certain percentage of Madoka's "acceptance" to discreetly increase her recovery.

"FUCKKKKKKK!"

"DAMN IT!"

"NONONONONONONO!!!!"

Fortunately, the audiences' reactions supported it.

"Why did she need to suffer again? AUTHOORRRRR"

"As expected of Sakurai-san. Truly the 'Lying Butcher'."

"That tweet wwwww"

"He tried to hide the dark feel in his tweet but everyone expected it wwww"

On a certain occasion, Shiro posted a tweet to conceal Madoka Magica's dark undertone a bit longer. That's how he earned the title of "Lying Butcher".

(A/N: A pun from his name. "Saku" can mean "to bloom" but it can also mean "to cut" at the same time. "Rai" is derived from the English word "Lie".)

At this moment, Madoka gained the highest amount of support that she could ever attain.

*****

A/N: About the Hachimon Tonko. You might think that it is from Naruto, but it is wrong. The concept of where they came from is the same, however. It is the usual Gate of Life, Joy, Death, and so on that, you saw from Lee. The one in re: creators is more likely to be based on the one in The Three Kingdoms. It is said to be a military formation that changes and has a hundred possibilities. One example of its might is that if one goes through the gate of death, there is... well, certain death. That's why it was compared to a "hundred thousand soldiers". This military formation is based on the Chinese Trigram, which will then be used as a military strategy by Cao Ren against Liu Bei.